1. Field of the Invention
An automobile air conditioner typically varies the discharging capacity of a compressor, such as a variable volume refrigerant compressor, to suitably control the temperature of air according to differences between a predetermined target temperature and an actual temperature.
2. Description of Related Art
As is known from, for instance, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication 63 184517, an automobile air conditioner is equipped with a main air cooling device which performs air cooling for occupants of a front seat or seats and an auxiliary air cooling device for portions of the automobile interior other than those cooled by the main air cooling device. Such an auxiliary air cooling device may be used, for example, to cool occupants of rear seats, or of the middle seats in a wagon-type vehicle. Typically, an evaporator of the auxiliary air cooling device is supplied with a portion of a refrigerant passing to an evaporator of the main air cooling device through a compressor. Nevertheless, because the auxiliary air cooling device is located far from the compressor as compared with the main air cooling device, the refrigerant is apt to have warmed up before reaching the evaporator of the auxiliary air cooling device, so that the auxiliary air cooling device tends to cause a decrease in air cooling power as compared with the main air cooling device.